LG

Just back from a wonderful 4 days on Brampton Island.



It wasn't all buffet meals, cocktails by the ocean and 8 course degustation meals. We swam, sea kayaked over to a neighbouring island which was actually very hard work thanks to a strong current and walked the very hilly 8.9k of trails through the national park around the island.

I've come back feeling very rested, relaxed & ready to get stuck into my work & training - oh, and engaged, extremely happy & planning an island wedding in about 2 years time :-D







LG

Another week, another holiday :-)

Another good week of training. I love consistent - not to mention, injury free -training !

Monday
AM - headed into FF in the city for my 7am meeting with my new PT for a short fitness assessment (yikes!) & to have a chat about my injuries & goal races. I'm impressed so far. He's very keen to speak with & work closely with my physio - man I love it when health providers work together! Afterwards I did my usual physio-ordered gym session.

Tuesday
AM - 20mins walk + 10mins run. Unlike last Tuesday, I actually did this session at a more even pace so it didn't hurt so much. I've got a long way to go but gee it's nice to out there watching the sunrise again.

PM - back to the pool for another scenic 1.55k swim. I felt reasonably good in the water - a bit unco to start with but I eventually got into the swing of things

Wednesday
Massage this morning. Otherwise it became a rest day. I had a ride scheduled for the evening but as I'm out of the office for the next 5 days (thanks to a 2 day conference + holiday), work had to take precedence today :-(

Thursday
AM - back into the gym this morning for a 12:30min run on the treadmill - my longest in almost 5 months! - before my first (60mins) PT session. Yikes. It was bloody hard work - my legs, chest, back & core all felt like jelly afterwards. But I know that the hard work will quickly pay off. Thankfully I got to sit on my butt at a conference for the rest of the day!

I have a 56mins interval session on Betty tomorrow (Friday) morning. Then after work tomorrow night, its off to a hotel in the city for the night before an early flight on Saturday to Brampton Island. TA has kindly cleared the training program for the time I am away so I can do as much - or as little - as I like. Bring on the cocktails :-)

Hot, hot, hot

Man, it was hot this weekend. And tiring!

Friday night, I crawled into bed after 12am after having to deal with a few emails from a client in the UK. Fortunately I was able to get out of the conference call that was proposed for 3pm UK time - 2am here !

Saturday
AM - after a mini sleep-in, I went out for a 20min walk and 7:30min run. It's getting easier each day!

PM - a 1.9k swim including 8 x 50m hard and 6 x 25m flatout. Yikes. I have to admit that I was dreading this session. I had forgot to put sunscreen on before leaving home so took the sensible, skin-friendly approach of doing this session in the indoor 25min pool. This had the added benefit of being a tri swim simulation as I had kids trying to dart across the lane ahead - or under - me. I only got kicked once. And kicked once :-)

After a quick shower, it was down to the Regatta Centre to watch the Mini Mango make her triathlon debut! Between you & me, I think her dad was more nervous than she was.

Sunday
After a terrible sleep, I was really dragging my feet this morning as we headed back down to the Regatta Centre (thankfully it's less than 5mins from home!), this time to watch R do the Nepean Tri and catch up with family & friends. It was bloody hot down there - combined with the flies in plague proportion, it wasn't the most comfortable morning for cheering. Still, we had fun as always!

Once again, I didn't have enough to eat during the day (something I did on Saturday as well) so we left while the presentation ceremony was on as my blood sugar level had plummeted. Even after a bowl of pasta & a crumpet with honey, I felt like curling up & having a nana nap. But I didn’t - I headed for the Glenbrook National Park with Apollo for my long ride. It was hot, humid & still in the park - ick! I spent 90min on the Oaks & Red Hands fire trails. I took it pretty easy – my energy levels were still pretty low & I’m still getting used to handling the MTB on the varying surfaces – not to mention disc brakes.

Off to bed now. I’m feeling pretty shattered & I have a PT session in the city at 7am tomorrow. Yawn.

Juggernaut

Just keeps rolling along - happy days :-)

Monday
Rest

Tuesday
AM - 20mins walk + 7:30mins run. Man, it was hard work. Probably because I suspect I started a wee bit too fast. But gosh it's nice to be out & running before dawn again!
PM - massage at lunch. Then gym session + a (scenic) 1.4k swim including 10 x 100m efforts with variable rests. The swim was pretty ugly. I felt like the wheels were turning but I wasn't making any forward progress - in fact, I may have been going backwards. Though I didn't have much to eat in the afternoon which probably didn't help the case.

Wednesday
AM - interval session on Betty (6 x 2min hard/1min spin) before work. Talk about dead legs.

Thursday
AM - headed out for a (scenic) 20mins walk around beautiful Rooty Hill and - wait for it - 10mins run! My longest run in over 4 months now - woohoo! But geez, I'm unfit. I've certainly lost my running fitness - thankfully I know it will come back quickly :-D

I saw the physio at lunch today. He is really pleased with how things are progressing. I've got the ok to increase the distances and big plans to shake up the strengthening work (which I'm really excited about - I'm a weights junkie at heart) so I've joined FF & am meeting with a PT on Monday.

Friday
AM - 40mins tempo ride on Betty.
PM - gym session

Thanks to a few belated donations, I've now raised $1,470 for MS Australia as part of the Gong ride which has more than exceeded my 'lofty' goal. I don't suppose anyone wants to make a further contribution & push it over $1,500?? I'm persistent, I know ;-)

One week tomorrow until Brampton Island - woohoo !

Lest we forget

Thank you to everyone for your comments! Well I pulled up very well after last Sunday's adventure - no DOMs, no niggles. Happy days :-)

I sat down yesterday & worked on my goals for the next few months. It's a rather eclectic mix of trail runs, triathlons, open water swims, "aquathons", adventure races and MTB races. Variety, as they say, is the spice of life !

This week was a recovery week. I love them - especially when they involve 2 long boozy client lunches (one of which ended at 6.30pm!) and 3 dinners with family & friends. Yikes. Let's just say it's probably safe to assume that I've more than made up for the calories I burned through last Sunday ;-)

Monday
PM - easy (scenic) 20min swim with flippers

Wednesday
AM - up at 4.45am for a 45mins walk(!) to stretch out my legs. I don't think the weather has actually any warmer than it was the last time I was outdoors exercising at 5am - in July!

Friday
AM - up early again for an easy 30mins spin on Betty. Had a physio appointment but had to reschedule due to work

Saturday
AM - sleep-in :-)
PM - gym session followed by a 1.4k swim in a rather refreshing pool thanks to all the rain we've had this week !

Sunday
AM - first up was a sleep-in then a (scenic) 20min walk + 5mins run. Then after breakfast, the time had come to dust off Apollo, get off the bitumen & hit the trails again - woohooooooo ! I spent a very enjoyable 75mins working on my non-existent MTB skills along the Oaks Fire Trail & the Nepean Lookout trail in the Glenbrook National Park. And before anyone asks, no I haven't ridden down - then up - the causeway.

Yet ;-)

Sydney to the Gong - 90k ride report

First & foremost, thanks again to everyone who donated money. Ultimately we raised $1,245 for a very worthwhile cause ! Secondly, thanks to everyone for your SMS' and emails over the last few days before the event - it meant alot!

To finish this ride has been a goal of mine for the last couple of months - though it has only been in the last 8 weeks or so that I've been out on the road. Before that, I hadn't been on the bike outdoors since my Six Foot training! Needless to say, I had a bit of work to do... Time is and was always irrelevant. I only wanted to relax, enjoy and finish this event - an event I've wanted to do for a few years - smiling. Which I did :-)



I started to get very nervous about doing this ride when it started raining on Friday. Thanks to Sydney's drought, I had never actually ridden on wet roads, let alone in the rain. But by the time I was in bed and listening to the thunder, lightening and heavy rain on Saturday night not far from the start line, I couldn't help but laugh.

Our team, "2 Mangos & A Brownie" - which actually consisted of Mango, Nando, Brother Mango, his mate & myself - set out just after 7am in light rain.



Brother Mango & his mate quickly took off as they needed to be back in Sydney early but the rest of the team - R, Nando & myself - rode the whole way together. Thanks for the great company boys & for keeping an eye out for me the whole way.



I took it very, very carefully on the wet, crowded roads to start with. Despite the very crowded conditions over the first 10k, almost everyone was very considerate & mindful of those around them & stuck to the rules which allowed me to settle in & get used to handling Betty in the conditions very quickly. The rain got quite heavy at one stage - which I found hysterical - but by the time we got to Brighton a touch of blue sky could be seen in the sky to the south & the sun had just started to poke out from behind the clouds. By the time we got to our first stop at Loftus (26k), the sun was out, the roads were almost dry & the choc chip muffin hit the spot !

Back on the road and the climb to Waterfall gave me a big confidence boost. I rode this section very comfortably, overtaking lots of people who were clearly (and loudly) struggling with the hill. We had to stop and wait for about 5-10mins at Waterfall station due to the numbers of people converging on the tight & narrow drop down in the Royal National Park. I was really nervous about riding this hill and rode my brakes heavily the whole way. Let's just say that we'll be checking the brake pads before I ride Betty again ;-) I have to say that while I was passed by lots of people who were flying down the hill, 99% of them announced that there were passing which was very reassuring.

The ride through the Royal National Park was gorgeous - perhaps my favourite part of the ride. The rolling hills combined with the sun streaking through the trees overhanging the road made this section an absolute delight. The climb back out of the park wasn't so delightful. I had been warned that this was perhaps one of the toughest sections of the ride - they weren't kidding. I was in my granny gear early & worried that I was going to run out of puff - but I didn't. Just kept grinding away and overtaking lots of people, some of whom were walking their bikes up the hill. However the view from the top of Stanwell Tops more than made up for the tough climb.

We continued onto Bald Hill (56k) where we made our second stop for a banana, some water & to take in the incredible view.



Back on the bike and the last 30k turned out to be the toughest section - lots of short, sharp, steep hills which kept coming most of the way to the Gong. Riding over the Seacliff Bridge was a particular highlight through this section.



Unfortunately the course is short - only 84k - but didn't damper my spirits. My folks had planned to pick us up from the finish, though I certainly wasn't expecting them to be at the finish. But there they were:-)





After lunch in the sun, it was into the car with my folks & and the Brothers Mango for the entertaining drive home (man, it's a long way to Wollongong!). A long shower, yummy dinner & glass of vino to celebrate rounded out a fantastic day!

I've pulled up incredibly well today. While I'm sleepy tired & my legs are a bit fatigued, I have no DOMS. And before anyone answers, no my butt isn't sore either !

Thanks to Coach TA and to my domestiques ;-) for a great day.

So what's next? An easy recovery week & then its time to set a few new and scary goals. How exciting !

Edit: some of my official photos are here !

Rain rain go away....

First up, the month that was October -

S: 10k
C: 213k*
R: um, ask me at the end of November :-)

The bike total only includes my weekend long rides. For some reason my cadence sensor isn't picking up speed so I don't know the distance covered during my mid-week, indoor sessions - the actual total must be over 300k.

Overall, October was a very busy month for me on the work front so I missed alot of sessions :-( Still, it was my second consecutive month of training sans-injury (which I've never done before) so I'm mighty happy right now :-)

An easy 30min spin on Betty in front of the telly this morning to turn the legs over one final time before the big day. I love carb loading :-)

Looking forward to the rain clearing, the roads drying out & giving my domestiques a run for their money on the hills on Sunday ;-P

Thank you

Less than 2 weeks ago I wrote -

"I've set myself the goal of raising $1,000 - a HUGE task given the race is only 2 weeks away but hey, what's life without lofty goals :-) "

Thank you for helping me achieve my 'lofty goal'. Together with donations promised but not yet made, we passed the $1,000 mark today. I have heard from so many people whose family have been affected by MS. I will be thinking of them, and the generosity of all of you who have donated, as I power up the hills on Sunday.